Finished "The Stand"

[giza]

I finally finished Steven King's The Stand on the train home from work last night. This was the unabridged version, all 1100 pages of it.

If you liked the miniseries that was on TV, I think the book is a good read. It goes into much more detail than the TV version did, and even introduces characters that the miniseries left out.

I guess I should go out and purchase some other King books now, since this was my first. That's what nice about taking the train to work, I have more time to read.

Comments

[ralkor.livejournal.com]

I really liked his fantasy 'The Eyes of the Dragon', which is a departure from his usual genre of horror writing, but reading it was like being at an old-fashioned storytelling, and it kept me up all night to reach the ending.

[elfasi.livejournal.com]

You've found just the right person. I'm a big fan of Stephen King, although there's a lot of his books I've yet to read, including The Stand. Now if you want to start with Stephen King's furriest book evar, I can heartily recommend The Talisman, co-authored by Pete Straub. It's very much a fantasy and quite heart wrenching in places, there's one particular character in it you'll almost certainly fall in love with.

Eyes of the Dragon has to be recommended for its incredible story telling, it really is a work of genius, and another fantasy (See! He doesn't just do horror!). Infact the only 100% horror book of his I've read is Desperation, a delightfully horrific tale of a mining town where the minors dig a little too deep, and discover an unspeakable evil in the bowels of the earth. I literally stayed up all night reading this one.

Last but not least has to be the Dark Tower series, you may have heard of it. Stephen King started writing it in his 20s and only finished it within the last few years, 7 books in all, it's his masterpiece. Another fantasy series, it isnt primarily horror either, and I can't fully convey how good it is. The first book can put you off, although it recently had a George-Lucas-esque overhaul and it's now a lot easier to get through, but stick with it regardless. The series is utterly captivating, and also brings together all kinds of threads from pretty much all his books, there are some twisted crossovers and references, all of which are intentional. Go read them all now!!

[giza.livejournal.com]

Sweet! Thanks for the recommendations!

[foxcutter.livejournal.com]

I can suggest a few. If you're into writing "On Writing" is a great book on how to write.

For his fiction, "Four Past Midnight" which is a short story collection, in that collection is a story called "Secret Window, Secret Garden" (recently a movie with Johnny Depp) This story is the only thing King has written that really scarred me, so I highly recommend it. :)

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

Find a copy of King's short story collections, particularly "Night Shift". I really think is short story work is his best stuff.

[vesuvius.livejournal.com]

My favorites of his are Eyes of the Dragon and the Dark Tower series.

Be sure to catch his short stories and try to find the ONE scene in Lawnmower Man that was actually from the story. Ain't the Hollywood artistic license grand?

[scs-11.livejournal.com]

I've read just about everything King has written. The uncut 'Stand' is one of my favorites, so you've started at a good point. Some of my other favorite King books are 'Firestarter', 'Cujo', 'From A Buick 8', 'Insomnia', 'Pet Sematary', 'Eyes of the Dragon,'Misaery.', and 'Rose Madder.' And i fyou can lay your hands on any of his short story collections or various novella collections - well, King is at his best with shorter works.

You might also try his two collaborations with Peter Straub, "The Talisman" and 'Black House'. Definately read them in that order, you won't appreciate or understand 'Black House' if you do.

I'd save the Dark Tower series for last. It's good, but it's not Kings best.

[tgeller.livejournal.com]

Although the movie versions of The Dead Zone and The Shining are both excellent, the books have subtleties that never made it into the films. Recommended.

His early nonfiction book *about* the horror genre, "Danse Macabre", is interesting.

[fairfox.livejournal.com]

I'm a big SK fan too. So far the Stand and the Dark Towers were my favorites but I cant believe nobody else mentione The Tommyknockers.

[colugino.livejournal.com]

Argh, I could not get through that book. I think my eyes gave up about the half way mark. I don't bother trying to compare his books to the movies because half the movies cut out so much important shit it's not even funny. The Dark Tower series is pretty ok, I think. Which I never even knew he came out with the final book of the series last year. BAD King fan ! Now I know what I have to get myself for Christmas :-)